Big screen

Opening Wednesday

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (PG) A couple (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) long to have children but can’t bury an empty box in their backyard as a symbol of their wish. Soon, a curious little boy (CJ Adams) shows up at their door. A family-friendly fantasy directed by Peter Green ( Dan in Real Life, Pieces of April).

Opening Friday

The Expendables 2 (R) Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li and Terry Crews reunite for more head-banging exploits. This time, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris join the faded 1980s action-star party, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis show up for more than just cameos.

ParaNorman (PG) Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and John Goodman provide the voices for this animated tale of a boy with the ability to speak to the dead waging a war against zombies and monsters.

Sparkle (PG-13) Director Salim Akil’s musical drama about a girl (Jordin Sparks) who forms a musical group with her sisters in 1960s Motown-era Detroit is a remake of the 1976 Michael Ritchie cult favorite. The late Whitney Houston, in her final screen appearance, plays the mother of the three singers.

Rene Rodriguez

Small screen

Hell on Wheels (9 p.m. Sunday, AMC) This determinedly unromanticized Western returns for a second season. Set in the muck and brutality of a post-Civil War railroad work camp populated by men and women fleeing their own pasts, Hell on Wheels is a painful but riveting examination of the high price of vengeance.

The Closer (9 p.m. Monday, TNT) It’s been a rough seven seasons for Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), the rules?-we-don’t-need-no-stinkin’-rules police chief at the center of The Closer. And now she’s reached her final episode, rife with betrayal and disappointment. Oh, yeah, and the violence. The over-and-under body count on the finale is up in the dozens.

Toy Hunter (10 p.m. Wednesday, Travel Channel) Follow vintage toy dealer Jordan Hembrough as he trolls through the flea markets of America, looking for collectibles like the original 1959 edition of Barbie or the villainous GI Joe doll known as Pimp Daddy Destro. (Yeah, apparently GI Joe walked a little more on the wild side than mommies and daddies were aware.)

Boss (9 p.m. Friday, Starz) Back for a second season, Kelsey Grammar plays a ruthless Chicago mayor whose wasting brain disease has only compounded his lust for power. Watch even a few minutes of this and you won’t even remember who Frasier Crane was.

Glenn Garvin

Let Miami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin program your TiVo! Just click on his best bets for the week at http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-tco/mix/index.do